Q. With what the Germans, Japanese and Italians are trying to do to the democracies of the world — especially our United States — do you really mean you would permit your children to number among their friends any Germans, Japanese or Italians?
A. I certainly do. How are we going to live in peace in the world of the future if we cannot be friends ourselves with Germans, Japanese or Italians? I have friends of all those nationalities; some of them have fled their own countries because they were in disagreement with the policies of the governments of those countries. I imagine there are many people still in those countries who are suffering because they do not agree with what their governments are doing. If we take the attitude that we can never be friends with people of these nationalities, our chance for a peaceful world in the future is slim indeed!
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) First Lady of the US (1933–1945), politician, diplomat, activist
Column (1942-09), “If You Ask Me,” Ladies’ Home Journal, Vol. 59
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Q. Should we discourage children from playing war games?
A. We might wish to discourage them, but it would be utterly useless at the present time, so we might as well give in gracefully and try to see that when war games are played they teach the lessons which we wish our children to learn — fair play, magnanimity in victory, courage in defeat and no hatred of peoples.
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) First Lady of the US (1933–1945), politician, diplomat, activist
Column (1942-08), “If You Ask Me,” Ladies’ Home Journal, Vol. 59
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Sitting in stunned silence, we remembered our dead. So many dead. So many maimed. So many bright futures consigned to the ashes of the past. So many dreams lost in the madness that had engulfed us. Except for a few widely scattered shouts of joy, the survivors of the abyss sat hollow-eyed and silent, trying to comprehend a world without war.
E. B. Sledge (1923-2001) American soldier, biologist, academic, memoirist [Eugene Bondurant Sledge]
With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa (1981)
On the reaction of his fellow Marines to the announcement of the Japanese surrender in WWII.
Paul Fussell quotes this passage in his essay "Thank God for the Atom Bomb," The New Republic (26 Aug 1981), and it is sometimes misattributed to him.
Will we ever learn to use reason instead of force in the world, and will people ever be wise enough to refuse to follow bad leaders or to take away the freedom of other people?
Eleanor Roosevelt (1884–1962) First Lady of the US (1933–1945), politician, diplomat, activist
Column (1939-10-16), “My Day”
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